12th June: The noose for the long-eared

Cotton dug his pouch of tea-leaves out. "It's up to you, lad, you'm the one partnerin' with him. I'll just give a word of advice, though - be a bit careful who's around when you want to use it. Captain Vick'ry's real easygoin' when it comes to things, but you know there're other officers who ain't so nice. An' there are several English folks who don't like the idea of the Irish speakin' their own language, never mind teachin' it to someone else."

"I know. There'd be some who'd find it a bad thing.. but I wouldn't get Burke in trouble with speakin' it like that or have somebody lissening to us. Or...if they'da heard me... i wouldn' tell em where from!" He shook his head. "Not t' very least t' sort of bad officers, like Simmerson, or t' bad sort in general, like Hakeswill." He whispered the last name rather quietly.

"..Don't want Captain Vickery ter need ter be bothered by that character... though.. Gabe...Cotton. Wot' are we ter do if he comes talk ter t' Germans?"

"If who comes to talk to the German?" Cotton asked, puzzled. "Simmerson? Or Hakeswill?" Quite what business either of them could have with the German riflemen, Cotton couldn't say. "Reckon we ought to leave 'em to it - if they ain't wanted, they'll find out quick enough." It wasn't as though he or Pye could stop either man doing what they wanted, not when one was an officer and the other an NCO.

"Hakeswill of course. He's gone and done that 'fore. Not a while now... I guess. Though I wouldn't know couse we was prisoners when he was..dunnowhereabouts!"

He stretched out, leaned back, dropped himself right on the ground. Made sure his breadbag was out of the way. Rolled over onto his belly, nudged his shako a bit to the left and away from the flame and tugged at his tattered coat riding up. "...mmmm.... do yer mind if I lie here tonight?"

"Suit yourself," Cotton replied, leaning forward to lift the kettle's lid with a stick. "Might want your cup o' tea first, though." He shrugged. "If Hakeswill's tryin' to cause trouble with any o' the Riflemen, he'd best keep a sharp lookout for the Captain, that's about what."

"I would like it, thank you." Pye perched up on his elbows, mindful of his fingers which he flexed again and again, trying to see how far they would go without hurting, but also to test how well they have healed.

"I noticed he has a real dislike for...well I thought it was the 95th at first, but now, wot I've seen, it made me think he does not quite like t' 60th either. Especially after... wot' happened. But.. why? Captain Vickery surely didn' do anything an.. he ain't t' sort ter get at officers at all. Snivelin' and adorin' he is ter them ter their face... atleast. Makes 'em think he's t' finest man."

Cotton sighed. Watching the water in the kettle wasn't going to get it to boil any faster - it would probably stop it boiling at all, in fact.

He replaced the lid, dropped the stick and settled cross-legged, near enough to the fire that he could easily add sticks when necessary.

"He'm got a grudge against me, for stickin' up for a mate in Lisbon 'cause me mate was stoppin' him tryin' it on with a girl in a tavern," he said. "Well, that's the short story anyhow. Not sure why he's still got a down on me, but he has. Reckon he'd leave the captain alone, apart from the fact I'm his batman. Not that he's done anythin' to the captain, an' nor's he likely to, apart from tryin' to use me position gainst meself."

He shrugged and picked up a twig. "He planted Captain Padstowe's watch in Captain Vick'ry's things, tryin' to make it look like I'd had it away from Captain Padstowe, an' beaten half to death to get it," he said, shredding the twig and tossing the remains into the fire.

"He.. beat captain Padstowe? BUt.....he struck an officer that'a way. Don't that mean he oughta be sentenced fer it and killed?" He asked, surprised. So, he now knew what Cotton had done to cause the wrath of the sergeant upon him.

"...Don't it mean Hakeswill ought to be taken up in court for such an assault. You knows it was him, the captain must know. Wot..... why is he not with a noose 'round 'is neck?"

Cotton nodded. "Don't know that it's goin' to happen, though - from what I've heard, the Captain never saw who it was who was tryin' to do for him. And for all anyone else knows, it could've bin me who'd put that damned watch where it was found - though I was with Maggie at the time, an' Mister Sharpe saw us together, so I've got... I've got that, an' Captain Padstowe said as how... as how he's got faith in me character, that he never believed it was me."

Despite Hakeswill's attempted character assassination, hearing Captain Padstowe's words had gone a long way in restoring Cotton's pride in himself as a man. It had been the humiliation of the flogging, rather than the pain itself, that had brought him the lowest, emotionally speaking.

"You? Can yer even steal sumthing proper without gettin' all clumsy and felt 'bout it? Let alone know where ter hide it so it ain't found? Couse,.... pardon me sayin' so.. but you was not learned of the trade and it aint' real easy ter do it jus' seein' it once or twice. " He shook his head and shrugged then. He was a bit proud of being a bit of a thief, and a more skilled one at that.

"Though.. I guess, yer can't say that 'front of everybody. ..An' yer character, as yer say. ..Yer jus'... a feelin' like not t' sort o' sneaky bastard wot' would beat a man near death for a watch. Yo might'a been more ruthless were somebody to threaten or hurt your Maggie, but even then.. I dunno...mebbe....I dunno, it jus' ..I hope yer don' be offended by it. But yer don't smell of cruel like some do." He smiled and stretched a bit holding out his mug inquiringly, wishing it filled with water, though he would not expressively ask for the leaves of tea, even if he was at near loss of them.

"I um glad this captain was wise enough about, if wot' t' sergeant thought he wouldn't be...An'....wait.. ain't that t' man wot' we met jus' after we 'scaped and near tackled into a freshly done flat bread?"

"I ain't a thief. You think I'd still have me position if Captain Vick'ry even half believed I was?" Cotton said, and hooked the kettle lid back off, more for something to do than for any hope the water might be boiling yet.

"I reckon I'd kill, for Maggie, but it'd be quick an' easy, with a rifle bullet. I don't like seein' anythin' suffer, even folks who deserve to." He could stand watching friends suffer even less... He would never be able to tell Maggie that one dark secret, never.

He replaced the lid again and took the offered mug, nodding. "Captain Padstowe, of the 50th, that's the one. He'm on some sort of speical duties for the General, that's why he ain't with his regiment right now, or somethin'." That had been the second time he'd managed to flatten the poor Captain. He could only hope that there wouldn't be a third, because his patience with Cotton must surely be wearing thin by now.

"Yer can't be. Wot' I said." Pye nodded and then considered the captain, whom he had only seen in flat form, and had only later perhaps recalled, or was it earlier, in slightly less mangled form, but whom he had not seen, when Cotton was flogged for his poor physical state.

"...Remin' me ter give Maggie an egg a week. Dun' want ter be shot by yer, Mister Cotton." The lad chuckled. "Fer displeasing the missus!"

Cotton chuckled. "I wouldn't do that. Folks might think you'm tryin' to butter her up, though. Or me." He reached for his mug and added a hadful of tea-leaves to it. "Here, gis your cup then, reckon the water's about ready."

"I wouldn' mind butter, but I ain't butterin' anybody up, Mister Cotton. Jus' doin' wot's right fer..." He couldn't say family, though he felt it was one. The whole of the rifles here had adopted him. He held his mug up for Cotton to take, which had him stretching out a bit more than was comfortable, but he had not thought to push himself to his knees on time.

"Hope we got a rabbit today in that noose. That'd be a nice treat fer us ..really comin' back fer good. An' fer our tummies after all that bad Frog food." Any food was good, but he could not exactly go out and say that, comparing a rabbit stew and some bits of stale bread!

Cotton took the offered cup. "I'd like to know what it is you are doin', then," he said, taking the cup and adding tea-leaves and water to it before passing it back.

"We'll have to see, first light tomorrow," he added. Rabbit was far better than beef recently on the hoof, as far as Cotton was concerned. "They do a nice garlic sausage, the Frogs, though."

"I'm ..lookin' out fer ye in a way I know how. You wouldn'a approved o' stealin'." He answered timidly. He glanced at the mug and then gratefully at Cotton, his smile widening.

"Garlic sausage? Well, they don't serve those ter t' prisoners, do they. Should they have been so kind as ter serve summat of their good food...we'd have taken their cook prisoner with us." Pye tried to sound serious even when partly he was just joking about what they could have done.

Cotton adjusted his position, reaching for his rifle, to give himself time to think. Pye's words were just showing how badly he might have misjudged the boy, and he felt like the worst sort of scum because the lad was trying his hardest to make up for what he'd done. He shook his head to bring him back to the present.

"Depends... I don't like stealin', no, but there are times when it's about the only thing you can do, an' not starve." He shrugged. "Doesn't mean I like it." Being flogged for doing something that would never occur to him to do, that had hurt, more than the lash itself.

"I dunno about takin' their cook prisoner, though. Don't think even a Frog could do too much with our rations." He grinned. "Best place to look is inside the shakos, after a battle. They keeps all sorts of food in there. I've found biscuit afore, an' sausage. Not in the same hat though - that'd be terr'ble heavy, not to say uncomfy!"

"Well your hair would smell rather... interestin' if yer had all t' food in. I think me chick might be let to travel in me shako sometime, when she's bigger and it's too dangerous ter have her run along or whatnot. And... well will you be able ter ask Maggie that she looks after her, when we will be needin' all the quiet and the chick could alarm someone of our presence? I dunno who else ter ask, except mebbe another girl. But she's not with the rifles. Not yet, though I wish she were. It'd be safer for her there. Lucy, that'n.. and Davy. They'd both be better of with us. But I can't tell em, and ..well there's lots of them good men in the 33rd too, so they's with them, is a'right... " And he shut up then. He had gone on on a rant again, and that was not how a rifleman should be.

"..Mebbe.. some French cooks can do miracles.. even with our food? But ..atleast with our rabbits they could make it even... grander! ANd they might have food with themselves so.. we jus' take theirs.. don't we? And their means o' cuttin' t' food and al that. and t' pots and t' sort of things.. which would serve us more n' them." He grinned again, and tried not to think of food too much as it made him only feel the more hungry and wishing that the rabbit was already caught!

It didn't sound as though this Lucy had a man with the 33rd. "If you want to ask her if she'd like to come over to the Rifles, the Captain wouldn't have a problem with that, an' I reckon Maggie'd like another woman to talk to. An' o' course Maggie'd look after your chick for you - though I think you oughta ask her your own self."

He rummaged around in his haversack. "Here, have you got anythin' left from earlier?" he asked, brining out his own few scraps of meat and a bit of biscuit. "I've only got enough for me, right now, sorry."

"I don't think she'd want ter... an'... an' I can't just ask a lass ter go ter me regiment jus' 'couse I'd wish fer it." He glanced across at Cotton and nodded. "I'll ask Maggie if she can. sometime when we needs it." He nodded with some enthusiasm.

"I will look," Though he was not sure, and he probably did not, but instead of saying so he added. "Ah.. I do. I'll eat it later." He smiled. "If I do eat it now... I'll be hungry 'fore I fall asleep!"

"You can ask. She might say no, but you can ask - she might want to be with you an' if you don't ask, you'll never know," Cotton pointed out. "If I hadn't asked Maggie to walk out with me, I'd never have married her, after all."

He took a bit of biscuit to soak in his tea. "If you don't mind me givin' you a bit of advice, try an' save a bit o' dinner to eat later when you'm hungry. Means you'll be less hungry later in the day."

"Married? Oh no, that's different! All different." Pye shook his head sharply, turning scarlet. " Wot' you go ahead and mention marriage like that!" He stammered and scowled " You right frighten a man." Which he was not yet anyhow!

"mmm... it's not so easy ter safe up on food when....when it's food. I do save up on it of course. I do." He lied a bit on that. He mostly did not do a god job at keeping food out of his tummy. "...so, I know that. Yer know."

Cotton looked unrepentant. "I wasn't thinkin' about marrying her at the time. I just wanted to walk out with her. Well, mebbe I was hopin' she might marry me, but I never thought she would. 'Sides, I'm older'n you, wouldn't expect you to be thinkin' of marryin' anyone, not at your age."

Of course, some lads thought about marriage at a younger age than others, and some grown men never thought about it at all.

"Well, try to save some food, if you can. There might be days when we don't get our rations an' you'll need somethin' to chew on."

"I can't ask her ter walk out with me either." He shook his head again. "Anyway, she's too fine of a girl." He tilted his head a bit and made a face. "Marriage is fer those who can 'fford it. Ter make their lasses live a good life an' their children remain with 'em, in good fed state." He touched his temple at that.

"...yer mean t' rifles get ...t' not gettin' food more often n' others?"

"Mebbe not, but you could ask if she'd like to come over to the Rifles." Cotton shrugged. "You don't ask, you'll never find out. An' I never 'spected to marry, neither. But there we go."

He stretched and the picked up his own mug of tea. "Hmm. It's harder, somtimes, for things to catch up with us, as we march faster'n the rest of the army. So it's allus good to know how to use snares an' things, just in case. It does happen sometimes that we don't get our rations when we ought to, but we make do."